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Add an EventUS continues its killing of Afghan civilians Bombs wipe out wedding party, 47 dead
According to a statement from the US-led coalition, a convoy came under attack in the Bakwa district (whose approximately 80,000 residents are Pashtuns). The coalition convoy returned fire and called for close air support on the enemy positions. A house was hit; eight civilians were killed, two others injured, the statement said. It is impossible to say whether this report bears any resemblance to the truth.
As is the norm in such cases, the military statement asserted, Coalition forces never intentionally target non-combatants, and deeply regret any occurrence such as this where civilians are killed and injured as a result of insurgent activity and actions. In fact, the targeting of civilians is an inevitable and necessary part of counter-insurgency operations, aimed at terrorizing the population into submission.
On Thursday, US forces claimed they killed 15 insurgents in northwestern Afghanistan, in Herat province, in another air strike. NATOs International Security Assistance Force, in a statement, asserted that there was no evidence of civilian casualties or accidental damage in the operation.
Read MoreIt's not clear if there was any link between the operation and the attack, nor what the government's response will be. But most Pakistanis hope it will persevere with peace, precisely because of the Red Mosque.
The bombing came at the end of a rally in which thousands had amassed outside the "shrine" to pay homage to those who had died there. Last July, President Pervez Musharraf had ordered commandos to wrest back control of a mosque that had fallen to alliance of pro-Taliban clerics, radicalised seminary students and armed militants inspired by Al-Qaeda.
At least 103 were killed in the raid, mostly students. Not surprisingly the loudest cry at the rally was for vengeance. And one man took it as his vocation. As the other protesters dispersed, he ran into a throng of police officers and detonated. Aside from the dead, 40 were injured, many grievously. No outfit has claimed responsibility. But police suspect the bomber may have been a seminary student at the Red Mosque.
Musharraf had moved against the complex after it had become a direct and armed challenge to the state. From within its strawberry coloured walls "moral vice squads" were dispatched to raid brothels, trash DVD stores and "punish" any behaviour deemed un-Islamic. A similar "Talibanisation" had taken root in Khyber.
Different militia had overthrown the state authorities there and established their own fiefdom. Within the agency this meant trucks and other commerce were held for "taxes" on the main road between Pakistan and Kabul: a worrying toll for Washington and other Western capitals since the Khyber Pass freights 80 per cent of all NATO supplies in Afghanistan.
Beyond it, longhaired, armed vigilantes motored into Peshawar, a mere 10 kilometres from Khyber: "Islamic" courts were held, barbers were warned not to shave beards and the rich were extorted for ransom, usually by abductions. On 21 June, 16 Pakistani Christians were kidnapped, allegedly for "immoral behaviour" (they were attending a wedding). This happened in the heart of Peshawar's plushest district, a stone's throw from its 60,000 strong garrison.
Like last year, the government came under enormous local and international pressure to act. And, like last year, it acted. But that is where the resemblance ends.
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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/in2.htm
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